I came to two realizations today. Well, ok, one realization, because the first one is pretty obvious and I figured it out a while ago:
1) Don't post all your shit on Facebook. I am continually astounded by what my Facebook Friends are up to. People who are job hunting or will be, soon, post on Facebook about their annoying students. In detail. Others forward bits of private emails and also email messages from listserves. Why would anyone visit this trouble on themselves? Don't they realize that their future employers will not be impressed?
2) I recently spent time with a friend, and being with him made me feel very stressed out. I couldn't figure out why, because I had felt pretty great beforehand, but while I was with him, I was getting increasingly edgy and upset. I finally figured out that it was simply because *he* was so incredibly anxious and stressed - but in a low-key way, so that I didn't realize it at the time - that he was triggering all of my own anxiety. Once I realized this, I was able to let go of the accumulated stress and find my way back to my happy place. (No, I'm not a horrible person - he is just someone who carries around a lot of anxiety.)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
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3 comments:
A few weeks ago a friend of mine, who is a heavy smoker and has been for over 25 years, invited me to dinner. She meant to smoke while we were waiting for a table but couldn't find her cigarettes. Almost through the entire meal one hand was digging through her bag and at one point I wanted to scream at her "JUST GO BUY ANOTHER PACK AND SMOKE ONE ALREADY!" because her increasing anxiety over not being able to find her cigarettes was making me anxiousl
I have someone in my life who is all energy all the time, and it drains me. His energy is definitely anxiety, though he'd never admit it. A good example is, if I say, "hmmm, I gotta go to the store" he sits up straight and says, "ok Let's Go!" but
- I was just thinking about going to the store, I'm not ready, I only noticed I'm out of thumbtacks for instance, and was just observing that I need to go to the store.
The "ok let's go", trips my 'action' switch, and adrenaline starts pumping a bit, but I'm not actually - mentally - ready for action, so I have to deal with the pointless adrenaline in my system making ME anxious, when nothing in my thoughts would have made me anxious. It's his thoughts, his voicing of them, and his energy level that infects my levels...
Stuff like this happens all the time with him, and it literally gives me a headache.
I dunno, probably not what you meant...
It's not precisely what I meant, but I can understand why that would be exhausting!
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